Featherpaw's Guide on How to Fly
by PikaBolt101
Summary: Featherpaw was a dreamer with a bunch of crazy questions, until one day, "Why can't SkyClan cats fly?" popped up. So now the clan is in thought, she is in wonder, and with her insane ideas, she wonders, can cats really fly? (Silverclan challenge)


**Okay, another challenge! Hmm… It's basically a free write, so write about anything. That's happy. Here we go! (And by the way, Silver, it's not gonna super happy or anything. All it's gonna be is… not sad. Because I'm bad at writing very happy stories. xD) And also, prepare for some randomness. **

* * *

A question had been bothering Echostar lately.

"Why can't SkyClan cats fly?"

Why, indeed.

It was sunhigh in newleaf, and that day, Echostar had been faced with that question from one of SkyClan's young apprentices—Featherpaw. One full of questions. Many, many questions that had no apparent answer.

"Why can't we eat clouds?"

"Why can't foxes be purple?"

"What will tickling a bird do?"

But the latest one—even though Echostar had waved the question off with a dismissive paw—had thrown her off balance.

_We are SkyClan. She's right; why _can't_ we fly?_

Echostar had watched the birds fly by from her den and pass her swiftly and easily. Hawks and eagles circled overhead and occasionally shadowed the bright sun, soaring freely and lazily.

She laid her chin on her paws.

_This requires some serious thought._

__[how . to . fly]__

_Earlier that same day…_

"Buzzardclaw, why can't we fly?" A certain ginger-and-white apprentice came bouncing up to the older, large tom.

The brown tabby tom scoffed.

"Featherpaw, cats just can't fly," he said sternly. "Conversation closed."

"But—" Featherpaw chased after the warrior as he started to walk away, matching his fast pace with no effort at all. "But we're called SkyClan for a reason, right? We should be able to fly!"

"That's ridiculous!" Buzzardclaw sighed hopelessly. "Go to Dawnbreeze. She'll definitely know the answer."

_[how . to . fly]_

"Dawnbreeze!"

A long-haired golden she-cat with a white chest from the elder's den turned around at the sound of the familiar voice calling her.

"Dawnbreeze, I have a question for you," Featherpaw announced.

"Go ahead," Dawnbreeze mewed, though everyone knew Featherpaw having crazy questions were not surprises. She expected the ginger-and-white she-cat to say something like, "When will rain fall down from the ground and into the sky?" But apparently, it was different this time.

"Why can't SkyClan cats fly?"

Dawnbreeze's orange eyes widened a bit, then narrowed again, in a hopeless expression. She tried not to let it show. As others said, young cats asking questions was a good thing. Or so they say.

"Excuse me?" the older golden cat asked, not entirely sure of what Featherpaw just said.

"I said, why can't SkyClan cats fly?" the apprentice repeated, extra slowly this time.

"Well, because we don't have wings and feathers like birds do," Dawnbreeze explained in the most logical way she could think of. "We weren't born like that. Tigers, lions and leopards from back then didn't either, Featherpaw. It's just the way things are."

Featherpaw lowered her head and cast her gaze on her paws. She sighed sadly.

"But don't you wish we could?"

"Of course I do, dear," Dawnbreeze rasped. "But we can't, and that's that."

The young apprentice fell silent for a moment. Dawnbreeze took the chance to walk to the fresh-kill pile to pick out a piece of prey. Right when she thought she had gotten away, Featherpaw followed her there and piped up again in her happy, zestful manner like always.

"Can you make me fly?" she asked.

Dawnbreeze almost choked.

"What in Silverpelt?" the recently-made-elder exclaimed. "No, of course not! I'm not a magical cat!"

"Then who _can_ make me fly?" Featherpaw muses, tapping a paw against the ground repeatedly, as if thinking deeply about something.

Dawnbreeze secretly rolled her eyes. She took the chance to shoo the naive young cat away.

"Why don't you ask a bird?"

_[how . to . fly]_

"Mister kestrel, would you please tell me how to fly?"

Featherpaw was engaged in a deep conversation with the small, flecked brown bird of prey she found perching on a boulder.

The hook-beaked bird cocked its head at the cat and continued to rip apart the prey it just caught.

"Please listen to me!" Featherpaw exclaimed. The bird gave an annoyed call and backed away a bit. She sighed, about to give up.

"I really, really want to fly, so could you please teach me?"

The bird continued to eat.

Featherpaw huffed and walked away.

"You're not a good listener!"

And in the corner of her vision, she could almost see the kestrel stick its tongue out at her, if that was even possible.

_[how . to . fly]_

"Featherpaw here to speak with Echostar."

A grey-and-white she-cat padded out of the leader's den back at the SkyClan camp. Her blue eyes widened as she saw the ginger-and-white apprentice waiting at the entrance.

"What is it, Featherpaw?"

Featherpaw shuffled her paws. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question."

Echostar's expression remained a slightly confused one. "Of course, you can ask me anything."

"Promise you'll answer seriously," Featherpaw pressed on, sweeping her white tail from side to side.

"Why wouldn't I?" Echostar flicked an ear. When she glanced down at young Featherpaw, the apprentice she-cat's green eyes wide and pleading, the SkyClan leader sighed in defeat. "Alright, I promise."

"Okay, here goes." Featherpaw took a deep breath.

"Why can't SkyClan cats fly?"

Echostar's twitched.

"Cats weren't born to fly, Featherpaw," Echostar answered, trying to remain calm and collected. "We're not birds. We're hunters on land. And no one can change that, not even StarClan."

Featherpaw sighed and padded away, her ginger-and-white pelt disappearing as it slowly melted in with the blinding sunlight.

_The same answer every time, _Featherpaw thought as she walked, head low, not satisfied. _I won't listen to them. I know I can fly. I _will_ fly. _

_And no one can tell me otherwise._

* * *

Plan #1: Vigorous Flapping of Limbs 

Featherpaw arrived at a tall boulder, stacked on top of many big rocks. She quickly leaped onto it, claws unsheathed and trying hard to grip the smooth, slippery surface, finding a crack in which she can lodge her paw in to make this clambering easier.

Finally managing to get to the top, panting as she heaved herself up.

"Alright, let's do this." She stretched her limbs and eyed a crow that flew past in the sky, flapping its pitch-black wings as it did so.

"See?" she murmured to herself. "They just flap their wings, and they fly. If I flap my arms, I'll fly too!"

She stood up on her hind legs, wobbling a lot and tumbling down at first, but then leaning her back on a rock behind her and standing up again.

She raised her limbs out and started flapping them in the same motion as the bird. Then she stepped forward—

And leaped.

"STARCLAN SAVE ME!"

_Crash!_

Needless to say, it didn't work.

* * *

Plan #2: Leaf Wings

Since simply flapping your paws didn't work, Featherpaw decided she needed a wing. Which would be impossible to grow, but looking at a very large leaf that grew to about the size of her, she strapped the leaf on her front limbs using its long stem like a bird's wing and proceeded to try again.

Clambering onto higher ledges, she knew this was going to work.

_I'm gonna fly. I'm gonna fly. I just know it!_

She stood up, pushed herself off the ledge with her hind legs—

And "flew".

A strong wind had lifted her.

"I'm flying! I'm actually—"

And then the wind receded.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

_Boom!_

* * *

Plan #3: Latch onto a Bird

Since flying by yourself is clearly not going to work, Featherpaw decided to try a different approach to prove to every cat else that she could indeed fly.

It was stupid, it was naive, it was idiotic… and she was going to do it.

She waited on the ledge, close to the clouds, the sky, the heavens. And she waited… for a bird.

The sky was clear that day and few clouds could be seen. Hawks and eagles and falcons and other large birds were commonly seen here. If only she could grab onto one, and then maybe…

A shrill call split the air.

Featherpaw glanced up, her green eyes reflecting a large brown and golden shape circling just a few fox-lengths above her head, slowly lowering down.

_An eagle! _She smiled. _Awesome. Now all I have to do is…_

She reached out, her paws outstretched, her eyes determined. And she caught it.

Or, more precisely, _it_ caught _her_.

"NOOOOO!"

_[how . to . fly]_

"Cats who are old enough to catch their own prey," Echostar's voice rang clear across the SkyClan camp as she stood on the tall ledge, "please gather for a meeting!"

Cats—warriors and apprentices mostly—gathered beneath the high ledge to listen to what Echostar had to say.

"Our wonderful apprentice Featherpaw has learned how to hunt, fight, and she respects the warrior code like any noble warrior," the leader spoke. The crowd listened intently. "I, Echostar, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Featherpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect the clan, even at the cost of—"

She stopped and her tail twitched.

"Where is Featherpaw?!"

Just then, they all saw a small ginger-and-white she-cat dangling from the talons of a large eagle.

"Ooh… ahh…"

And then they disappeared into the horizon.

* * *

**Don't ask me what I just wrote. - - ; Well, you said write about ANYTHING, Silver, so here you go. XD And also, if you wanna know, it is a total of 1679 words.**


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